IMPLEMENTATION OF THE PROGRAMME OF ACTION
FOR THE THIRD DECADE TO COMBAT RACISM AND RACIAL DISCRIMINATION

Report by Mr. Maurice Glèlè­Ahanhanzo,
Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination,
xenophobia and related intolerance, on his mission to Brazil,
from 6 to 17 June 1995, submitted pursuant to Commission on Human
Rights resolutions 1993/20 and 1995/12

INTRODUCTION

A. Purpose of the mission

1. In accordance with the mandate laid down in Commission on Human
Rights resolutions 1993/20 and 1995/12 and by agreement
with the Brazilian Government, the Special Rapporteur visited
Brazil from 6 to 17 June 1995. The purpose of the mission
was to obtain reliable information on the relations between the
various ethnic and racial components of Brazil. Since Brazil is
perceived by the international community as a positive example
of ethnic and racial integration, that country was chosen primarily
on the basis of the Special Rapporteur's comprehensive approach
to the discharge of his mandate as he had indicated in his
previous reports to the Commission and the General Assembly
namely that contemporary forms and manifestations of racism and
racial discrimination should be sought in the developed countries
as well as in the developing countries.

2. On the face of it, this mission could have become a mere exercise
in elucidating a situation that appears to be quite familiar and
might have been presented as a reference model for countries facing
the problem of racism and racial discrimination and seeking to
manage their pluralism or cultural mixing. On the other hand,
by immersing himself in the Brazilian social context, albeit temporarily,
perhaps the Special Rapporteur could gain different insights or
even a more objective understanding of the issue of racism and
racial discrimination as it may arise in Brazil. With his experience
in the study of Afro­Brazilian and Amerindian cultures (as
a former programme specialist and later Director of the UNESCO
Division for the study of Cultures, perhaps he could endeavour
to bring a fresh approach to the understanding of a complex sociological
context. Such complexity is itself the product of a specific economic,
sociocultural and political history. This mission was therefore
undertaken in a spirit of openness and sympathetic curiosity,
against the background of contemporary forms of racism, racial
discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance.

B. Chronology of the mission

3. The Rapporteur arrived in Brasilia on 6 June 1995
and travelled successively to Belem (State of Pará), Salvador
(State of Bahia), São Paulo (State of São Paulo)
and Rio de Janeiro (State of Rio de Janeiro).

4. In Brasilia, the capital of Brazil and seat of the Government
and federal institutions, the Special Rapporteur had the honour
to speak with Mr. Luiz Felipe Lampreia, Minister
for Foreign Affairs; Mr. Nelson Jobim, Minister of Justice;
and Mr. José Sarney, former President of the
Republic, President of the Senate. He also met Mr. Cristovam Buarque,
Governor of the Federal District of Brasilia; Mr. Edson Machado,
Adviser to the Minister of Education; Mr. Antonio Augusto Anastasia,
Executive Secretary of the Ministry of Labour; Mr. José
Carlos Seixas, Executive Secretary of the Ministry of Health and
Mr. Joel Rufino dos Santos, President of the Palmares
Cultural Foundation attached to the Ministry of Culture. He also
held a working meeting with the congressional Human Rights Commission
attended by deputies Nilmario Miranda, President of the Commission,
Roberto Valadao, Domingos Dutra and Gil Ney Viaha.
He also spoke with Senator Beni Veras, President of the Senate
Social Affairs Commission. In the context of cooperation between
functions and institution, the Special Rapporteur wishes to mention
that he had a very instructive meeting in Brasilia with Mr. Lindgren Alves,
Head of the Directorate of Human Rights of the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs and member of the Sub­Commission on Prevention of
Discrimination and Protection of Minorities and Mr. Paulo
Sergio Pinheiro, Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation
in Burundi.

5. In Salvador, capital of the State of Bahia, the Special Rapporteur
had talks with several State authorities, including Mr. Paulo
Ganem Souto, Governor, Mr. Luiz Antonio Vasconcellos Carreira,
Secretary for the Plan, Science and Technology, and Mr. Edilson
Souto Freire, Secretary of Education.

6. In São Paulo, the capital of the State of São
Paulo, the Special Rapporteur met with Mr. Belisario dos Santos,
Secretary for Justice and Public Security, Mr. Antonio Carlos
Arruda, President of the Council for Black Community Participation
and Development of the State of São Paulo and Mr. Dermi Azevedo,
representative of the State of São Paulo to the Council
for the Defence of Human Rights.

7. At all these places, the Special Rapporteur visited or received
representatives of non­governmental organizations, whether
community­based or not, working for the promotion and protection
of human rights in general, on the combating of racism and racial
discrimination in particular. Thanks to the sponsorship of the
Centre for Cooperation for Grass­Roots Activities, he was
able to visit the Pedreira and Lagartixa favelas on the
outskirts of Rio. Those visits served to demonstrate that the
favelas are symbols of the widespread social breakdown
and racial divisions in Brazil as will be shown below.

8. During his visit to Brazil (the itinerary and a detailed programme
of the mission are contained in the annex), the Special Rapporteur
was assisted by an official from the Legislation and Prevention
of Discrimination Branch of the Centre for Human Rights; he was
also helped by two interpreters assigned to the mission by the
Conference Services Division of the United Nations Office at Geneva.

9. The Special Rapporteur would like to convey his gratitude to
the Brazilian authorities for their cordial welcome and openness,
which facilitated his mission. It was with great interest that
he took part in the working meetings with the federal
and State institutions and with non­governmental organizations,
with which he had valuable and very instructive exchanges, in
an atmosphere of unfailing friendliness and support.

I. OVERVIEW OF BRAZIL

A. Historical, geographic, economic and social overview

10. Brazil is a federative republic comprising 25 states and one
Federal District, Brasilia, divided into five major regions -
North, North­east or Nordeste, Centre­west, South­east
or Sudeste, and South (see Figure 1). It has
a surface area of 8,511,966 km2, which makes it the fifth
largest country in the world.

11. Brazil was colonized by the Portuguese from 1500 after the
Tordesillas arbitration, and became independent in 1822.
Its history is marked by three successive economic cycles which,
without fully explaining the complexity of Brazil's sociological,
geopolitical and economic situation, provide us with analytical
tools: the sugar cycle (sixteenth and seventeenth centuries);

the gold cycle (eighteenth century); the rubber, cotton and coffee
cycle (nineteenth century). These cycles have determined the settlement
and organization of the country and have changed the regional
balance according to the commercial importance of one or more
crops and the economic emphasis at the time. From the sixteenth
to the twentieth century, for example, the centre of the country
moved from the North­east to the South­east and South
whereas the North and Centre­west emerged as pioneer zones,
a fact which had an impact on political and social relations and
on the ethnic and racial geography of the country. The first cycle
is particularly important to this study since it laid the bases
for Brazilian society.

12. In the North, at the mouth of the Amazon, the first Portuguese
encountered Indian peoples. Before subjecting and exploiting them,
they cooperated with them in the trading of a redwood from the
Amazon forest, the pau brasil, which was to give the country
its name; it was not long before that product was supplanted by
sugar. Sugar cane, which was introduced from the Indies, found
the climate and soil in the North­east ideal, and it was
in order to grow this crop, for which Indian labour was inadequate,
that the Portuguese, in 1532, began the trade in African slaves
from the Gulf of Guinea, Angola and Mozambique.

13. On the basis of sugar cane, which was the distinguishing feature
of the first cycle, there arose an economic, social and geographic
network that is still discernible in the structure of the North­east
and influences the other regions of the country. This network
supported an economic complex that grew up around the large sugar
plantations, which were both agricultural and proto­industrial
and took their name from the sugar mill (engenho) which
was the hub of the plantation but was also linked to trade and
the world market. The social structure, on the plantation itself,
was also an unequal one, linking the casa grande, the master's
house, and the senzala, the slaves' quarters, in a relationship
of power, exploitation and patronage. One cannot fail to mention the carnal ties between master and slave which
produced the first people of mixed parentage and were the origin
of one of the features of modern Brazilian society.

14. It was this early period, with the mingling of Amerindian,
European and African stock, that saw the beginnings of the
demographic complexity of Brazil, characterized by a long process
of miscegenation between these three population groups, while
physiological miscegenation was largely the result of domination
and at times rape, a cultural miscegenation also occurred. The
dominant framework and the structure of production were European,
but many cultural features of the subordinate groups became assimilated:
the Indians' legacy was the growing of cassava, the use of the
hammock and a large number of place names. The African introduced
gardening and metalworking techniques, cooking, music and religions,
which even today make the North­east a unique cultural aggregate
in Brazil.

15. The gold cycle followed that of sugar, the price of which
fell to a low point on world markets because of competition from
British and French output. As a result, both free men and slaves
were attracted to the mines in the State of Minas Gerais,
in the South­east region, a process that contributed to the
gradual decline of the North­east, symbolized by the transfer
of the colonial capital from Salvador to Rio de Janeiro in 1763.

16. It was this period that saw the beginning of the dependency
between the North­east and the South­east and South.
As the North­east became progressively marginalized, the
country's centre of gravity would move south, a trend that intensified
with the expansion of coffee growing which would ensure the economic
prosperity of the South­central area. The coffee cycle was
not a delayed repetition of the sugar cycle from the point of
view of plantation management since the slave system was being
challenged and the abolition of slavery in 1888 was to lead to
the replacement of slave labour by a wage­earning or
contractual labour force, largely made up of European emigrants.

17. Some people take the view that the process of exclusion of
Blacks, Indians and people of mixed parentage from the country's
economic and social life began during this period - since nothing
had been done to integrate the former slaves - and was intensified
by the industrialization of the country (principally in the South
and South­east in the twentieth century) and by the increasing
numbers of immigrants from Europe, but also from Asia (especially
Japan). By acquiring or receiving land and by obtaining skilled
jobs or establishing businesses, these immigrants were to form
a prosperous, predominantly white Brazil in the South­east
and South, as opposed to the poor regions of the North and North­east,
whose interbred populations came to swell the favelas of
Rio and São Paolo. Regional imbalances, the
product of a history of contrasts, have also engendered ethno­sociological
imbalances.

18. The African contribution is particularly evident in the old
plantation areas, where there had been a concentration of African
slaves. The sugar cane cycle had left a large Black and Mulatto
population in the North­east, especially Pernambuco and Bahia
and in part of the South­east, Rio de Janeiro.
These population groups are also found, to a less concentrated
degree, in the State of Minas Gerais, where the gold and mining
cycle had brought many slaves and former slaves in the eighteenth
century. Finally, the same phenomenon is found in the State of
São Paolo, on the old coffee plantations closest to the
coast, which prospered in the time of slavery; in that state,
the African element of the population is occasionally strengthened
by immigration from Bahia.

19. On the other hand, in the states of the South, Paraná,
Santa Catarina and especially Rio Grande do Sul, the African
element is so diluted that it is often hardly perceptible.
There have never been many Blacks in Rio Grande do Sul,
where the predominant activity, stock­raising, required a very
small labour force and the harsh climate was not conducive to
Black settlement. The population in that region is close to the
purely European type. In the interbreeding that does exist, however,
the Indian element is much more significant than the African;
it has had a greater impact than colour on European facial features.

20. Similarly, people of African descent do not appear to be very
numerous in western Brazil, or especially in the North, but
the Indian racial type is found there in greater numbers than
anywhere else, and the Portuguese­Indian mix, in the Amazon
region in particular, is often the predominant type.

B. Political overview

21. Brazil's recent history has been marked by a succession of
military dictatorships. From 1889, the date of the overthrow of
the Empire, to 1982, when democracy was established, the military
have had a very strong hold over the country's political
life. The 1988 Constitution, the outcome of a hard­fought
struggle by the Brazilian people, is manifestation of an unprecedented
democratic revival; it guarantees the effective operation of the federal
and local political institutions while safeguarding the people's
rights and fundamental freedoms. Accordingly, the Government headed
by President Fernando Henrique Cardoso, who was elected in
October 1994, is endeavouring to reduce the social inequalities
that threaten the stability of the State and to resolve the problem
of access to land for large numbers of small farmers faced with
the monopoly of land tenure by the major landowners.

C. Human rights overview

22. The 1988 Constitution guarantees civil and political as well
as the generally recognized economic, social and cultural rights.
Brazil is also a party to numerous regional and international
instruments, including the American Convention on Human Rights,
the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights,
the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Racial Discrimination, the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment
of the Crime of Genocide, the Slavery Convention, the Convention
against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment
or Punishment and the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

23. Brazil's recent human rights situation, however, has featured
massacres of street children - in particular the massacre of seven
children of between 11 and 19 years of age in front
of the Candelaria church in the centre of Rio de Janeiro
in 1993 - by death squads with well documented links with the
regular law enforcement agencies; these events are not unrelated
to the purpose of the mission. Other relevant situations are the
conditions of detention for ordinary prisoners, whose uprisings
have often been harshly put down and the disputes over land tenure,
which often lead to massacres of peasants or Indians by militias
in the pay of the landowners, or by pioneers.

24. Finally, the Special Rapporteur's mission comes at just the
right moment to update the information on Brazil available
to the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination,
since Brazil's last periodic report was in 1986.

II. RACISM AND RACIAL DISCRIMINATION THROUGH DENIAL

25. It is generally stated officially that there is no racism
or racial discrimination in Brazil because the Constitution explicitly
prohibits it and because miscegenation is a fundamental aspect
of the Brazilian population and an essential component of the
country's multiracial democracy.

A. Preliminary observations

26. The appearance of ethnic and racial cohesion in Brazil conceals
substantial inequalities between Whites, Indians, people of mixed
parentage and Blacks, which are a legacy of earlier times. The
situation is exacerbated by the unequal distribution of wealth.
Although biological and cultural intermingling can be seen as
a factor conducive to integration and stability that has helped
to curb social tensions, it is also a cause of social stratification
and of ethnoregional imbalance.

27. With the advent of multiracial democracy, the Brazilian authorities
appear to be resolved to tackle the ethnic and racial issue directly
and to usher in a society based on the equal dignity of all of
its members. The political will exists, and constitutional, legal
and administrative steps have been taken to that end.

B. The Constitution prohibits racism and racial discrimination

28. Officially, "Racism does not exist in Brazil. Brazil
is the country with the second largest number of Blacks in
the world, after Nigeria. Brazil is a multiracial country and
a multiracial democracy; it is not like the United States,
or like South Africa under apartheid; it has no tradition of racial
hatred". However, it is acknowledged that there does exist
"economic, and even social discrimination, against Blacks,
Indians and people of mixed parentage: these people are not discriminated
against because they are members of particular ethnic groups,
but because they are poor".

29. "This is not discrimination; it is a result of Brazil's
history. Brazil shows no obvious signs of racial, ethnic,
religious or ideological discrimination. This is why the Government
emphasizes education for all, for the entire population and all
the different social strata." It is also firmly pointed out
that the Constitution prohibits and condemns racial discrimination
in all its forms. Title I of the Constitution of 1988 states
that Brazil "constitutes a democratic State under the rule
of law [which] is based [...] on the dignity of the human being.
[...]" (art. 1); "The fundamental objectives [of Brazil]
are the following: I. To build a free, fair and mutually supportive
society; [...] III. To eradicate poverty and marginalization and
reduce social and regional inequalities; [...] IV. To promote
the well­being of all, without prejudice as to origin, race,
sex, colour, age or any other form of discrimination." (art.
3); "[Brazil] adheres to the following principles in its
international relations: [...] II. The primacy of human rights;
[...] VIII. Rejection of terrorism and racism [...]" (art.
4). Article 5 of the Constitution stipulates: "The law shall
punish any discrimination that undermines fundamental rights and
freedoms" (para. XLI); "The practice of racism
constitutes an offence for which no statute of limitations shall
be applicable and for which there shall be no release on bail;
it shall entail a prison term as stipulated by the law" (para. XLII).

30. "The expression 'Negro', an official in the Department
of Education explains, is not negative; children are taught to
see that Black people exist and that that is the way things are.
Other segments of Brazilian society are referred to similarly,
such as 'Germans', 'Japanese', or 'Italians', of the 'German'
or 'Japanese' community or colony. We say we are 'Brazilians'.
The term 'Negro', for example, only becomes derogatory when it
is accompanied by an adjective, as in 'the wandering Negro' or
when Blacks are denied entry to nightclubs or employment; it can
even be used in an affectionate and tender sense: 'mi negrigna',
my little Negress, when speaking of one's lady­love."

31. Thus there is neither racism nor racial discrimination in
Brazil: it is categorically prohibited by the Constitution. The
discrimination is economic and social, a product of history; it
has become structural. It would correspond to what is generally
described today as exclusion. The International Convention
on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (General
Assembly resolution 2106 A (XX), annex), indicates that "the
term 'racial discrimination' shall mean any distinction, exclusion,
restriction or preference based on race, colour, descent or
national or ethnic origin which has the purpose or effect
of nullifying or impairing the recognition, enjoyment or exercise,
on an equal footing, of human rights and fundamental freedoms
in the political, economic, social, cultural or any other field
of public life" (art. 1, para. 1). Societies today are experiencing
the phenomenon of exclusion, in Europe especially, but also in
some countries of Latin America.

32. In Brazil, even though racial discrimination is prohibited
by the Constitution and represents an offence that is not subject
to a statute of limitations, even though it is denied as a racial
phenomenon, it has to be acknowledged that what is generally considered
to be mere economic and social discrimination is exclusion
based on race, colour, descent or ethnic or national origin, aimed
at Indians, Blacks and people of mixed parentage. As the eminent
Brazilian professor and statesman, Cristovam Buarque, Governor
of Brasilia, said in his meeting with the Special Rapporteur,
it is "apartançao sociais" that conveys
exclusion, i.e. the "social apartheid" experienced by
indigenous people, Afro­Brazilians, people of mixed parentage
and poor Whites in the North and the South. Many people with whom
the Special Rapporteur spoke feel that racism and racial discrimination
exist on a frequent, even daily, basis, but have become an ordinary
feature of life.

C. Miscegenation and multiracial democracy

33. Official pronouncements refer to "the uniqueness of the
Brazilian people" and emphasize the biological and cultural
mix that is reflected in particular in the participation of large
numbers of Brazilians of all origins in the Afro­Brazilian
religions practised in the terreiros (candomblé,
macumba, umbanda) and in the carnival. The
Brazilian authorities prefer to speak of skin colour rather than
race, by using the words branco, pardo and preto.
They are fairly reluctant to tackle the racial question head­on,
either because it is problematical and embarrassing or because
they feel that the question does not arise. Miscegenation has
created so many gradations of skin colour that it has become
difficult to classify the Brazilian population according to race
and to estimate precisely the size of the various ethnic and racial
groups in the population.

34. The word pardo, which denotes people of mixed parentage
as a group and refers to the colour of most of the population,
characterizes the interbreeding among the three original races
(Indian, Black and White) and excludes all terms referring
to miscegenation from the official classifications: Mulato:
White­Black interbreeding; Mameluco or Caboclo:
White­Indian interbreeding; Cafuso: Indian­Black
interbreeding.

35. In other words, the authorities have made a deliberate effort
over time to replace the idea of race by that of colour. This
was an attempt to resolve the racial issue, since the races had
no recognition as such but merged to form a unique people of
a hundred subtle tones over whom racial prejudice had no hold.
This is why the annual Carnival in Rio de Janeiro with
its splendid colours is regarded as expressing the Brazilian authorities'
idea of national harmony better than any integrationist pronouncement.
In its 1995 Carnival song, the Viraduro Samba School echoed this
idea by referring to the amazement of French painter Jean­Baptiste Debret
when he discovered Brazil in 1815 in the company of a French artistic
mission:

bearing my art and surprised was I to discover an enchanted paradise,
where Indians, Whites and Blacks live in perfect racial harmony,

living proof of the true nature of this tropical land".

36. Was the Special Rapporteur himself equally captivated? In
reply, he feels it best to refer once again to the International
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination,
whose relevant provisions are quoted above. Is social preference
in Brazil not based on colour? Perhaps racial prejudice has been
replaced by colour prejudice? Or is there not an ambiguous
relationship between these two forms of prejudice?

37. As the previous chapter attempts to explain, racism and racial
discrimination in Brazil are not easy to pin down because they
become lost among the complexities of the country's population
and are influenced by official pronouncements. For some, these
phenomena are "invisible" but remain present in
the political, economic, academic and scientific fields. The Special
Rapporteur sought manifestations of these phenomena in daily life,
in education, employment, housing and the administration of justice.
He turned his attention to police violence, the situation of women
"of colour", violence against children, problems of
access to land for indigenous people and the Black descendants
of the founders of the quilombos.

A. An ambivalent attitude towards miscegenation

38. Brazilians are said to feel no racial prejudice, although
they apparently have a keen awareness of colour, which is reflected
in an ambivalent attitude towards miscegenation and which barely
conceals a certain ideological preference for whiteness.
Miscegenation, which at one and the same time carries an integrationist
message - "we are all half­castes" is a common
statement - and is a basis for exclusion, appears as an extension
of the denial of the presence of Blacks. The word "Negro"
or even "Black" is offensive and it is courteous to
treat people as being whiter than they actually are. In the 1990
census, the Brazilian Geographical and Statistical Institute (IBGE)
thus identified more than 100 shades of colour which the
individuals questioned used to describe themselves out of a desire
to distance themselves as far as possible from the colour black.
This has given rise to an identity crisis of such magnitude among
Black people that certain members of the Pentecostal Church refuse
to be described as Black or Mulatto. Blacks and Mulattos
are virtually absent from Brazilian iconography and from the
media, so much so that when, in 1995, the O Globo
television channel for the first time broadcast a series
featuring Mulattos and Blacks it was regarded as a major event.
Several Mulatto and Black activists informed the Special Rapporteur
that carnival is extremely important to Afro­Brazilian culture
because it is the only time of the year when Blacks and people
of mixed parentage can show themselves without attracting the
disapproval with which they have frequently had to contend over
the centuries.

39. Moreover, the correlation between social stratification and
the different shades of skin colour is so close that it cannot
be without significance. Otherwise, how could one account for
the fact that, in a country whose authorities claim it is the
"second black country in the world, after Nigeria",
and in which people of mixed parentage make up the majority, the
Special Rapporteur met no Blacks or people of mixed parentage
in positions of
responsibility except in Parliament (there is a total of 11 Afro­Brazilian
deputies out of 513 in Congress) and at the Palmares Cultural
Foundation, whose purpose is precisely to restore the image of
Blacks and to combat the discrimination from which they suffer?

40. There is a colour hierarchy in Brazil and there seems to be
little doubt that a very dark colour is a handicap to social advancement.
It is difficult for a Black to become a senior civil servant;
he will require far more talent and effort than if his skin were
lighter. Brazil does not classify people into races on the basis
of juridical definitions or scientific theories; it classifies
them on the basis of their physical appearance and the colour
of their skin. Thus, Brazilians are not divided among themselves
because between the whitest White and the blackest Black there
is a whole range of nuances that reduces friction. Nevertheless,
there is a degree of structural segregation on account of economic
and social conditions. Thus, what most separates so­called
Coloured people from Whites is a difference in their standard
of living and way of life; the class barrier, which is easy to
discern, thus matches the very real but more subtle colour barrier.

B. Everyday racism and racial discrimination

41. Everyday racism and racial discrimination take the form of
acts of harassment which accentuate the inferiority of Blacks.
For example, in luxury buildings and apartment blocks, Blacks
are asked to use only service entrances and lifts. A cartoon strip
produced by the "Conselho de Desenvolvimento da Comunidade
Negra" of the State of Bahia depicts how Blacks may
be denied access to public places such as "high­class"
nightclubs; in supermarkets, they are frequently suspected of
theft; they may be refused a room in a luxury hotel. If a Black
is noticed in a residential district at night by a police patrol
he is immediately asked to present his identity documents and
to justify his presence there, as Blacks are supposed to live
only in the favelas and on the outskirts of towns.

42. Blacks are frequently harassed by the military and civilian
police or by other law­enforcement agencies. Such harassment
may extend to doubting that a Black can be a police officer: the
experience of Alexandre Silva de Souza, an investigator with the
Anti­Drug­Trafficking Division in the State of Pará,
is a revealing case in point. In December 1994 in the town
of Belem, this black police officer, who was on plain­clothes
duty, got on to a bus and showed his police badge in order to
be exempted from buying a ticket, as police officers are entitled
to do. The driver then said to him "You don't look like a
police officer, you look more like a bandit; that badge is a fake."
Shortly after, the bus stopped in front of a prison (Sao José)
where the driver called over to some military police, saying:
"There's a Black in this bus who's pretending to be a police
officer." Four soldiers got on to the bus and immediately
started to beat up Alexandre de Souza who shouted that
he was a police officer and that he would show them his identity
documents. They then took him away and continued to beat him inside
the prison. He was only saved by the arrival of a radio patrol
policeman (Radio Patrulha) who took him away for an identity
check to the police control office.

43. Such practices can be explained by the generally negative
image of Blacks within Brazilian society. Being black is synonymous
with being poor or a
criminal, which is in itself discriminatory. The disparity between
the town centres where Whites live and the outskirts, between
town centres and smart residential districts, and the favelas
where most of the inhabitants are black, testifies to a certain
type of spatial segregation. The subtle nature of methods of subordination
and social control also permits the preservation of unequal social
relationships which marginalized populations have apparently interiorized
and accepted as having a kind of fatal inevitability. The fact
that modern education has not been available to them has deprived
them of the intellectual tools with which to assert themselves.

C. Education

44. At the annual World Bank Conference on Development in Latin America
and the Caribbean, held on 13 June 1995 at Rio de Janeiro,
the Brazilian First Lady, Mrs. Ruth Cardoso, criticized
the Brazilian education system which she described as "discriminatory".
She drew attention to the fact that education reproduced
a "racist form of society". The discrimination
experienced by Afro­Brazilians in education is part of the
vicious circle of poverty in which many of them are trapped and
which takes the following form: material poverty ­ low
level of education, failure at school, lack of training, unemployment
or unskilled work, low wages ­ material poverty.

45. There are in fact private schools for rich people that provide
a better education than State schools with their huge classes,
although Afro­Brazilians are unable to attend them for lack
of means. There are those who believe that the Brazilian education
system fails to take into account the presence, history and culture
of Afro­Brazilians and tends to pass on to them a sense of
inferiority. This is attributable, in particular, to the fact
that teaching materials fail to portray Afro­Brazilians favourably:
they are only mentioned as former slaves, servants or manual workers.
Afro­Brazilian culture is presented as folklore. As a result,
Black children are unable to identify with the education provided
and do not enjoy attending school. There is a tendency to train
them for football, music and the arts, in which, one is unhesitatingly
informed, they excel. So what would be the point of trying to prepare
them for anything else?

46. Among children aged from 10 to 14, 87.9 per cent
of White children are able to attend school, 80.8 per cent
of children of mixed parentage and 77.6 per cent of
Blacks. Even if they obtain a place at school, many Black
children are compelled to abandon their education and do odd jobs
in order help their parents meet the family's needs.

47. There are also disparities in levels of illiteracy: although 18.2 per cent
of the Brazilian over­15 population is considered illiterate,
in 1992 the figure was 30 per cent among Blacks; in
the North­east, it may be as high as 36.4 per cent.
In 1988, 87 per cent of Brazilians who had completed
higher education were White. Currently, 12 Whites out of
100 attend university whereas barely one Black out of 100
does so.

D. Employment

48. Employment is one field in which there is overt racial discrimination.
There is virtually a racial division of labour that prevents Blacks
and people of mixed parentage from practising certain professions.
Popular wisdom holds that a Black can only succeed in Brazil as
a footballer or samba dancer. As a result, senior­level
and intermediate positions (both in the public administration
and in private enterprises) are held by Whites, followed by people
of mixed parentage and Blacks, who, depending on the lightness
of their skin, are managers, receptionists, cashiers, waiters,
caretakers, domestic employees and bus­drivers or taxi­drivers.
Occupational and social mobility are extremely low among Afro­Brazilians
on account of the fundamental handicap of a lack of education
and training. Even if he has the same qualifications as a White,
an Afro­Brazilian will be discriminated against; wording
such as "wanted: person of good appearance" in
a job advertisement is also an indirect way of excluding Afro­Brazilians
from certain jobs. In addition, in terms of wages, a White
worker earns 2.5 times more than a Black worker and four times
more than a female Black worker.

E. Housing

49. The majority of Afro­Brazilians live in unhealthy premises
and districts, without sewers, running water or electricity. They
make up the majority of the inhabitants of the favelas
which are built of makeshift materials on the outskirts of the
major cities. Each year, during the rainy season, landslides carry
away shacks belonging to poor families in the favelas perched
on the hillsides, killing many people, most of whom are Afro­Brazilians.
On 31 May 1995 a landslide killed 28 people in
the Arraial do Retiro district in Salvador in the State of Bahia.
Most homeless people who sleep in the streets of Brazil's big
cities are Black or of mixed parentage.

F. The media

50. As a rule, advertising and the media only feature White people.
On television channels, the vast majority of journalists are White,
in contrast with the United Kingdom and the United States
where television channels have a practice of multiethnic
and multicultural participation.

G. The situation of coloured women

51. The Inter­American Trade Union Conference on Racial Equality,
held in Salvador on 20 November 1994, declared that
Black women receive the lowest salaries (four times lower than
those of a White man), are employed in the most unhealthy locations,
work a triple working day and face threefold discrimination. For
these reasons, Black women are a barometer of Brazilian society:
the degree of political evolution of Brazilian society is directly
related to the political conquests of Black women.

52. The vast majority of Black women are domestic servants (for
example, in the State of Bahia 90 per cent of domestic
servants are black and 80 per cent of them receive less
than the minimum wage of 110 reals), nursemaids or
samba dancers in nightclubs. They make up the majority of the
informal sector (street vendors, for example). Many Black domestic
servants are ill­treated by their employers and suffer physical
and moral violence. Black women have the lowest level of education.
As a result of their lack of qualifications, but also because
of racial discrimination on the labour market (job advertisements
frequently require people to be "of good appearance")
many of them become prostitutes.

53. It has also been found that more Black women are sterilized
than White women. Some people believe that this method of contraception
or family planning contributes to the gradual whitening of Brazil's
population. According to data provided by the Brazilian
Geographical and Statistical Institute for 1986, in the State
of Bahia, 75 per cent of women who had been sterilized
(aged between 15 and 40) were Black or of mixed parentage, while
for the country as a whole the percentage is estimated to be 61.8.

54. These women, who are often poor, naturally do not wish to
have any more children because they are unable to provide them
with a decent standard of living, but they are not offered any
alternative means of contraception; however, they may even be
sterilized without their knowledge when they give birth. They
are also encouraged to accept sterilization by politicians who
promise to help them if they are elected; there are also material
incentives (money, food) to accept sterilization, and until 1995
employers could demand a medical certificate certifying that female
workers had been sterilized. This fact is also confirmed
by the observations of the ILO Committee of Experts on the Application
of Conventions and Recommendations which, in its report to the
eighty­second session of the International Labour Conference
(June 1995) noted with regard to the application of Convention
No. 111, Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention,
1958, "that, despite the detailed information provided on
administrative and statutory provisions to ban discrimination
based on sex, the Conference Committee keenly regretted that Bill
No. 229/91 (prohibiting employers from requiring a medical
certification attesting to the sterilization of women workers,
which constitutes discrimination on the ground of sex in respect
of access to employment) has still not been adopted".

55. According to the explanations obtained from the Ministry of
Health, sterilization of women is not an official practice encouraged
by the Government. Generally speaking, contraception, including
sterilization, is a method which Brazilian women have adopted
voluntarily. If many women resort to sterilization, that is because
it is a simple and cheap method; those who resort to it do not
always consider the consequences. Significantly, it is women from
the poorest sectors of the population who use sterilization, but
that does not mean that there is a sterilization policy targeted
at Black women. The Government has had an act against mass sterilization
adopted. The Act in question is Act No. 229/91, referred
to above by the ILO Committee of Experts, which has
now come into force.

H. Violence against children and child labour

56. Violence against children is one of the most serious problems
Brazil has to face. It mainly affects street children of
Black and mixed parentage. According to a study carried out by
UNICEF and the Public Prosecutor's Office of the State of São Paulo
into child murders, in 1991, out of a total of 307 victims,
42.35 per cent were White, 44.63 per cent
of mixed parentage and 12.05 per cent Black.
In the State of Rio de Janeiro in 1993, "Judge Siro Darlan,
responsible for juvenile delinquents in Rio de Janeiro, registered
1,152 violent deaths of minors, 60 per cent of which
occurred in the town of Rio alone. The majority of the victims
were Coloured male children". It is no easy matter
to identify who is actually responsible for these murders, although
members of the military or civilian police are suspected of belonging
to death squads which are responsible for most of them. The investigation
into the massacre at the Church of Candelaria, in Rio de Janeiro,
in July 1993 revealed the involvement of police officers
in child murders.

57. Another form of violence is sexual violence against adolescent
girls, the vast majority of whose victims are of Black or mixed
parentage. In 1990, the Children's Department of the State of
São Paulo estimated that 6 million girls, i.e.
15 per cent of Brazil's adolescent population, had suffered
sexual violence. This type of violence occurs at home or outside.
Many minors are also prostitutes and are thereby exposed to violence.

58. Child labour is widespread and involves many children of Black
or mixed parentage. In the South­east region, the percentage
of children aged between 10 and 14 who work is as follows: White:
14.99 per cent; of mixed parentage: 19.96 per cent;
Black: 20.56 per cent. These children are employed
in agriculture and in a variety of workshops and factories. They
also work as street vendors.

59. The problem of street children is rooted in poverty. They
come from the poorest sectors of the population. It is among them
that the highest numbers of AIDS victims are to be found. This
is a deeply disturbing issue.

I. Land ownership problems

60. Access to land ownership is a problem that affects Indians
and Blacks descended from the founders of the quilombos.
Indians face serious problems of discrimination, exclusion and
extermination by colonists, the garimpeiros and madeireros
(mineral prospectors and timber exploiters) who invade their lands.
In 1993, there were 43 homicides, 85 attempted homicides
and 600 cases of death threats. Indians are the victims
of a policy of ethnic genocide which they combat almost unnoticed,
although they wish to acquire their human rights and dignity.

61. The Government maintains that the Constitution contains provisions
relating to the allocation of land to the indigenous populations.
Within five years, all the areas which initially belonged
to them will be allocated to them in accordance with the revised
Constitution; the latter does not recognize indigenous people
as minorities, but as indigenous populations. In response to the
conflicts between them and the big companies, the Government has
decided to define the boundaries of their lands and to regulate
mineral exploitation. In order to protect the indigenous population,
the Government monitors entry to and departure from the territories
of the Amerindians, using aircraft which take photographs every
six hours. In June 1995, 49 million hectares were assigned
to the Indian communities; only 11 per cent of the national
territory remains to be distributed.

62. An effort has also been made at rehabilitation in order to
assign or restore to Black communities from the quilombos
the land on which they live or used to live. This land is sought
after by big landowners and precious metal prospectors. Research
is under way to locate the lands and define their boundaries,
with the assistance of the Palmares Cultural Foundation of the
Ministry of Culture. The aim is to provide legal security to the
descendants of the slaves who formed the quilombos and
who nowadays live on these lands, whose boundaries have not yet
been set. They are reportedly small in area, but their restitution
to the Black communities would provide the latter with symbolic
recognition of their contribution to Brazil's historical development.
At the time of the Special Rapporteur's visit a presidential decree
was being drawn up to recognize the property rights of the quilombo
communities to their land.

J. Anti­Semitism

63. The Special Rapporteur was informed that there was no anti­Semitism
in Brazil. However, in the States of Paraná and São
Paulo there are neo­Nazi groups made up of skinheads and
punks who attack Jews, Blacks and people from the North­east.
Further research has shown them to be unstructured groups imitating
foreign movements. They have been disbanded by the police.

64. One case of anti­Semitism was none the less brought to
the attention of the Special Rapporteur. The incident, which occurred
in April 1995, involved an employee of the Electricians' Union
in São Paulo, nicknamed Pezao, who said, referring to Dr. David Zylbersztajn,
Secretary of Energy for the State of São Paulo, that
"a little Jew is transforming the secretariat into a synagogue;
he should start selling cloth; a Jew created the world and now
another one wants to end it". After the President of
the Electricians' Union and the person who made the statement
had offered their apologies, Dr. Zylbersztajn decided not
to lodge a complaint.

IV. GOVERNMENTAL MEASURES TO COMBAT RACISM AND RACIAL DISCRIMINATION

A. From the denial of race to multiracial democracy

65. The 1980s marked a genuine change in the Brazilian authorities'
attitude to ethnic and racial issues. Even though the principle
of the singleness of the Brazilian people is not called into question,
the multiplicity of its component races and ethnic groups is acknowledged;
hence the assertion of multiracial democracy and the concern of
the Brazilian authorities to "construct a free, just and
mutually supportive society; [to] ensure national development;
[to] eradicate poverty and marginalization and [to] reduce social
and regional inequalities; [to] promote the well­being of
all, without prejudice based on origin, race, sex, colour, age
or any other form of discrimination (1988 Constitution, art. 3).
The application of these provisions, which primarily concern Indians,
persons of mixed parentage and Blacks, the poorest among the poor,
will eventually help to integrate them more effectively into Brazilian
society.

66. The appointment of Edson Arantes do Nascimento, better known
by his nickname Pele, as Minister of Sport, is an integral part
of this process of

transforming Brazilian society. Nevertheless, Pele recently levelled
severe criticism at Brazil's political class and called on the
Afro­Brazilians to take their fate into their own hands by
voting en masse for candidates from their own community
at the forthcoming legislative elections.

B. Constitutional guarantees and legislation against racism
and racial discrimination

67. The 1988 Federal Constitution contains strict provisions to
punish racism. It is supplemented by a set of laws which prohibit
racism and a variety of discriminatory practices, including incitement
to racial discrimination and racist propaganda, and racism in
the media and publications. The following information is taken
from a communication from the Government of Brazil, dated
8 May 1995:

(a) Federal Constitution of 1988 (art. 5, XLII) prohibits the
practice of discrimination, of whatever nature, like racism, which,
having been previously considered to be a "contravençao"
(a less serious offence) was reclassified as a non­bailable
crime not subject to statute of limitations;

(b) Law 1930/51: includes among the "contravençoes
penais" the practice of acts motivated by racial or colour
prejudice;

(c) Law 2809/56: defines the crime of genocide and punishes the
destruction, in whole or in part, of national, ethnic, racial
or religious groups;

(d) Law 4117/62: establishes the Brazilian Code of Telecommunications,
punishing the use of communications media for the promotion of
discriminatory practices;

(e) Law 5250/67: regulates the freedom of thought and information,
prohibiting the dissemination, by whatever means, of racial prejudices;

(f) Law 6620/78: defines the crimes against national security,
among which those of incitement of hatred or racial discrimination;

(h) Law 7437/85; punishes practices and acts arising from racial
or colour prejudice, in particular in the provision of services
or in access to public places;

(i) Law 8072/90: deals with the so­called heinous crimes,
which include genocide, stating that amnesty, grace, pardon, bail
and provisional release are not applicable to them;

(j) Law 8078/90: deals with consumer's protection, prohibiting
misleading or discriminatory advertising as well as advertising
that incites violence;

(k) Law 8081/90: defines the crimes and lays down the penalties
applicable to discriminatory acts or acts originating from prejudices
of race, colour, religion, ethnicity or national origin, practised
by the media or by publications of whatever nature;

(l) Law 8069: establishes the statute for the child and the teenager,
stipulating that no child or teenager will be the object of any
form of discrimination.

68. However, the effectiveness of the laws has yet to be demonstrated
because the police receive very few complaints and there are very
few trials for racism or racial discrimination. The most frequent
racist incidents are verbal attacks or insults which, however,
according to the Minister of Justice, do not lead to complaints.
When cases of racism are brought before the criminal courts, it
is difficult to provide proof. Accordingly, the courts endeavour
to provide redress for the moral injury suffered by the victim.
It has been decided to establish a category of offence defined
as "the offence of insult or moral injury involving racism"
or "non­pecuniary injury". Thus, in São
Paulo a Black woman was the victim of a racist insult in a supermarket:
the case was brought before the court which imposed a penalty
for the non­pecuniary injury she had suffered. However, the
fact remains that the populations that suffer racism and racial
discrimination are the most underprivileged; they lack education;
they are ignorant of the law; in addition, they mistrust the courts.
If they are reassured, they willingly cooperate in establishing
the truth. Thus, at the initiative of the Government of the State
of São Paulo, a Commissariat to combat racist anti­Black
and anti­Semitic crimes has been established, with which
the population willingly cooperates. For example, when a Black
person looking for a home replies to an advertisement and is turned
down, a White person is sent; if that person is accepted, a racist
act is deemed to have occurred and those involved are punished.
There is also a national secretariat for citizens which deals
with measures to combat racism, particularly that affecting Blacks
and Jews.

C. Administrative measures

69. The following administrative measures were brought to the
attention of the Special Rapporteur. Brazil is a Federative Republic
with 26 States, 4,491 municipalities and the Federal District.
These units enjoy administrative and political autonomy. Thus,
each one develops its own action with regard to combating
discrimination. The following are examples of these actions:

(a) The Municipality of São Paulo, the country's biggest
city, with a 24 per cent Black population, created,
in September 1989, the Special Coordinating Office for Issues
relating to the Black Population;

(b) The Federal Police was directed to monitor the activities
of neo­Nazi groups. Inquiries have been initiated;

(c) The Government of the State of São Paulo established
a police division specialized in racial crimes, which started
functioning in June 1993, following the successful experience
of the police divisions specialized in women;

(d) The Government of the State of Rio de Janeiro created, in
September 1994, a police division specialized in racial discrimination.

The States of Bahia and São Paulo have also created
councils for the participation and development of the Black communities
to enable them to design and implement economic and social projects
meeting their needs.

D. Constitutional guarantees relating to Indian lands

70. Concerning indigenous populations, the Federal Constitution
of 1988 dedicated to them a specific chapter (Part VIII,
chap. VIII), besides addressing the matter in several other constitutional
provisions. The Union has the power to demarcate indigenous lands
and to protect their goods, and also to legislate on indigenous
rights. Disputes involving those rights are to be considered by
federal judges, the Office of the Attorney­General having
the duty to defend in court the rights and interests of the indigenous
populations. It is worth mentioning too Law 5371/67, which
established the National Indian Foundation (FUNAI) and Law 601/73,
which established the Statute for the Indian.

V. INITIATIVES BY CIVIL SOCIETY

71. The fact that allowances are made for the specific needs of
Indians and Blacks in the Constitution and in legislation is due
to the political and social action of numerous community and non­community
associations which have recovered their voice as a result of the
coming of democracy.

72. Organizations such as the Movimento Negro Unificado are trying
to raise the political awareness of Afro­Brazilians
in order to improve their participation and their political representation.
Numerous cultural associations, many of which are linked to the
terreiros candomblé, macumba and umbanda
- in particular Olodum and Ilê Aiyê (in Salvador da
Bahia), Bambarê (in Belém), the Centro de Estudios
e Defesa do Pará (CEDENPA), the Sociedade Ilê Asipa
(Salvador da Bahia) are endeavouring, with very limited resources,
to restore the pride of the Blacks by teaching them their history
and their culture, and by providing children with a modern education
in the schools they set up. Others are especially concerned
with the advancement of Afro­Brazilian women (the Geledes
in São Paulo); with street children (the Centro de
Articulaçaoes de Populaçaoes Marginalizadas in Rio
de Janeiro); the Casa Viva of Father Julio Renato Lancelotti which
takes in children with AIDS in São Paulo and which
the Special Rapporteur made a point of visiting; its remarkable
work deserves encouragement. Mention must also be made of the
Grupo Mulher e Educaçao Indigena (GRUMIN) of Rio de Janeiro
for its activities on behalf of Indian women. Lastly, there is
the National Human Rights Movement based in Brasilia and represented
throughout the Federation which is opposed to violence in all
its forms and vigilantly monitors respect for human rights by
the organs of the State.

73. In the favelas, instead of waiting passively for assistance,
the inhabitants have organized themselves to ensure supplies of
water, electricity and food. In Rio de Janeiro, the
Special Rapporteur went to the favelas of Largatixa and
Pedreira, each of which is home to about 25,000 people: there
he saw the work of a direct sales and solidarity project which
had been launched by the People's Cooperation and Activities Centre
which comprises a bakery, two shops selling essential
goods and a sewing workshop.

VI. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

74. At the end of his study, the Special Rapporteur notes that
racism and racial discrimination in Brazil are not easy to pin
down. These phenomena are subject to the vagaries of official
statements. They are also concealed, to the point of being invisible,
by biological and cultural intermingling. A degree of guile was
necessary to draw from many of the official spokesmen a recognition
of the existence of a cause­and­effect relationship
between economic and social conditions, the marginalization and
the poverty of Indians, people of mixed parentage and Blacks and
the historical circumstances which underlie the origins of Brazil,
in particular slavery and colonization. Only a political will
stemming from a clear­sighted and courageous analysis of
reality can break the vicious circle of racial discrimination
through negation and make Brazil the great nation it aspires to
be in the twenty­first century. Accordingly, the Special
Rapporteur puts forward the following recommendations to the Brazilian
authorities:

1. In the absence of special programmes for the benefit of disadvantaged
ethnic and racial groups of the kind known in the United States
as "affirmative action" (which several official spokesmen
regarded as impracticable because the people of mixed parentage
and the Blacks are not minorities and because economic and social
problems affect all Brazilians without distinction of race), priority
should be given to the education of the poorest who would
be identified in terms of a minimum income level;

2. The situation of the street children should be studied as a
matter of urgency in order to reintegrate them in normal social
systems (schools, apprenticeship institutions) and enable them
to escape crime and violence; in the same context, efforts should
be made to disband the semi­official police organizations
and the death squads which murder street children;

3. The Brazilian Government should undertake a major survey of
the problem of the sterilization of Black women and on the
effectiveness of the implementation of Act 229/91;

4. Campaigns should be conducted through the media and through
the education system in order to improve the image of Blacks
in Brazilian society and give Blacks, Amerindians and people of
mixed parentage an awareness of their dignity as human individuals,
to enable them to assert themselves and to participate fully in
the life of the nation;

5. Vigorous action should be taken to eliminate racial discrimination
in the field of employment, together with measures for the support
of women of mixed parentage and Black women in particular, through
an appropriate and determined process of education.

Noon Discussion with Senator Beni Veras, President of the Commission
for Social Affairs of the Senate

1.00 p.m. Meeting with Mr. Nilmario Miranda, deputy, President
of the Commission on Human Rights of Congress, and Mr. Roberto Valadao,
Mr. Domingos Dutra and Mr. Gilney Viana, deputies,
members of the Commission

4.15 p.m. Discussion with Mr. Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, Special Rapporteur
on the situation of human rights in Burundi, and with Mr. Lindgren
Alves, Chief of the Directorate of Human Rights, Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, member of the Sub­Commission on Prevention of Discrimination
and Protection of Minorities

6.00 p.m. Meeting with Mr. Belisario dos Santos, Secretary for
Justice and for Public Security, State of São Paulo,
Mr. Antonio Carlos Arruda, President of the Council for Black
Community Participation and Development of the State of São Paulo,
and Mr. Dermi Azevedo, representative of the State of
São Paulo to the Council for the Defence of Human
Rights

Thursday, 15 June (São Paulo)

10.00 a.m. Discussion with Mrs. Roseli Fischmann, Professor at
the University of São Paulo

11.30 a.m. Discussion with the Reverend Antonio Olimpio de Sant'Ana,
Executive Secretary of the National Ecumenical Council for
Combating Racism

6.00 p.m. Meeting with Mr. Alex Ferreira Magalhaes, National Adviser
to the National Movement for Human Rights, and Miss Célia
Regina do Nascimento Barbosa, Centre for Cooperation and Community
Activities